sydney school of piping and drumming

The administrator at The Sydney School of Piping and Drumming is Barry Gray.

With over 50 years experience playing the bagpipes and having competed twice in Scotland with the World Famous Dysart & Dundonald Pipe Band under Pipe Major R.T.Shepherd( in 1986) and Pipe Major Davy Barnes (in 1994) you can rest assured that the schools credentials are of the highest standard. He aslo competed in Grade 1 in Scotland with the New Zealand Police Pipe Band (in 2009 under PIpe Major Iain Robertson) and the Fife Consstabulary (in 2010 under Pipe Major James Murray).

Barry holds the Australian Pipe Band College Advanced Certificate (1984) and was the Pipe Major and Musical Director of the City of Blacktown Pipe Bands from 1984 – 2006. Barry has been the NSW Open Solo Champion on numerous occasions and competed in solo competitions in Scotland in 1986, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2006 and in Lorient France as an Australian representative at the World Invitational MacCallum Contest in 1999. He is now a sought after, adjudicator, recitalist and instructor throughout Australia and Asia.

In more mainstream performances he has appeared on two Australian Feature Films “One Night Stand” and “The Boy Who Had Everything”. Barry has appeared on stage or recorded with Sir Paul McCartney, John Farnham, Jimmy Barnes, Olivia Newtown-John, The Chieftains, Delta Goodrem, Area 7, Anthony Warlow, The Beatnix, The Battlefield Band, The Red Neck Mothers, The Up Streamers and was the Senior Pipe Major at the Great Anzac Tattoo held at the Entertainment Centre in 1999 and the Acer Arena in 2006.

He has been a past Director of the NSWPBA Ltd, Vice Principle of Piping for the APBA NSW Branch and a Vice Chairman of the APBA NSW Branch. He is the current President of the New South Wales Pipe Band Association Inc.

He has been awarded life memberships of the City of Blacktown Pipe Band and the The Governor Macqaurie Memorial Pipe Band. Blacktown City Council bestowed a Citizen Award upon him in 2007 for services to the local community and in 2021 he was awarded a prestigious “LEGEND” medal of the MacLean Highland Gathering.